


An Awkward Discussion

by WardenCommanderCousland



Series: The Light in the Shadow [3]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Cassandra Pentaghast's Disgusted Noises, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 18:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12917379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WardenCommanderCousland/pseuds/WardenCommanderCousland
Summary: Cassandra has to have "the talk" with Inquisitor Lavellan.





	An Awkward Discussion

Cassandra’s shield shook violently as she responded to The Iron Bull’s attack, but she threw all her weight behind it and managed to unsettle the qunari.

“Nice,” he said appreciatively, and turned to the small group of Chargers in the training circle. “That’s how you respond to a shield bash. Get to work. Even you, Dalish.”

Bull shook his head as the elf lined up against Krem, protesting the whole while. “You want to pretend you’re not a mage? Act like it.”

Cassandra set down her shield and flexed her hand. She could still feel the aftershocks of Bull’s attack vibrating through it. She took a piece of linen from her travel kit and wrapped it, hoping a thick bandage would numb the throbbing. The wrap was complete when she noticed Bull standing over her. He gestured towards the armory roof with his shield. “What do you see?”

Inquisitor Lavellan was perched on the roof, quiver set across her lap. The Tevinter mage, Dorian, was with her. “The Inquisitor is fletching arrows,” Cassandra said disinterestedly, turning back to her aching hand.

“Yeah, but what’s she looking at?” Bull asked, prodding her. He was convinced that Seekers were similar to Ben-Hassrath, and had been probing Cassandra to look at the world the way he did. She suspected he had the ulterior motive of getting her into bed with him, a notion she had entertained briefly until she overheard a few of the kitchen girls discussing their dalliances with the mercenary leader. His predilections did not match her own.

Cassandra looked at the Inquisitor again and drew a finger across the sky and dropped it down to where Cullen was training some new recruits in the late afternoon sun. Despite the chill mountain air, the Inquisition’s Commander had stripped down to a simple linen shirt and his breeches. Sweat matted his blonde curls.

“It’s the fifth time in the last several days that she’s been on that roof.” Bull said, turning to review his men. “She sat on the wall at Haven watching, too.”

“The Inquisitor has an interest in the troops that fight for her cause,” Cassandra said. She had an idea of where Bull was going with this and was pretty sure she disagreed.

“Maybe, but she also has an interest in her Commander.” Bull jerked his head towards Cullen. “And he’s not taking that armor off because it’s warm.”

Cassandra sighed, making her disgust evident. “The Inquisitor respects Cullen. He has a keen military mind and –“

“Come on, Seeker. You saw the way they looked at each other when Haven was burning. Cullen was looking for every possible way to get Lavellan out of there, and it wasn’t because he thinks she’s holy.”

Sighing, Cassandra had to agree. She remembered the look of relief on Cullen’s face when Lavellan made her way to them in the mountain pass and his insistence upon watching over her until Mother Giselle finally convinced him that his anxiety was upsetting her other patients and his energies were best spent elsewhere. She’d overheard a slightly awkward conversation between them shortly after they’d named her Inquisitor. And the chess games. And then there was that rumor she’d caught just that morning, after one of Leliana’s scouts tried to deliver a report to Cullen.

Cassandra picked up her practice shield and returned it and the sparring sword to the armory, then climbed the castle stairs to where she could join Lavellan and Dorian on the roof.

“Good afternoon, Seeker,” Dorian said, attempting to be personable.

“Leave us,” Cassandra ordered. The mage nodded curtly, grabbed the bottle of wine resting between him and the Inquisitor, and made his way back to the ramparts.

Adair Lavellan stuck the last of her new arrows in the quiver, then wrapped the strap along her ankle so it wouldn’t roll down the pitched roof. “Bull’s Chargers seem to be learning well. Are you enjoying their training?”

“Were you watching us or the recruits?” Cassandra glanced sidelong at the elf. Her cheeks were flushed slightly – from the cold, the wine, or being caught spying on her Commander? Perhaps all three?

Cassandra sighed again. It had been a few years since she’d had to give this speech – normally she reserved it for Templars who were suspected of getting too close to their charges. The irony of the situation did not escape her; she’d heard the rumor of Cullen’s own indiscretion with a mage at Ferelden’s circle.

“Inquisitor—“ she switched to a friendlier route. “Adair, I am concerned about Cullen.”

The Inquisitor returned Cassandra’s sideways glance. “Is this about the lyrium?”

“No.” Maker, she wasn’t going to let Cassandra dance around it. Cassandra detested subtlety, but this was a situation that demanded it, especially if the rumors surrounding the Inquisitor and Cullen were just that.

To hell with it. She jumped right in. “Cullen is a man.”

“I’m aware of that.” The Inquisitor pulled the quiver back up into her arms and began fingering the fletched feathers. “Are you going to reveal to me that you’re a human? Varric a dwarf? I’m pretty sure I already know who all the elves are.”

“Very funny.” Maybe she should have just loaned her one of Varric’s books. Surely it would be nearly as instructive as this conversation. “As a man, Cullen…has needs. I don’t want to see that,” she paused, grasping for what the appropriate word would be here. “Interfere. Or hurt you.”

The Inquisitor pulled an arrow from the quiver and stared down the shaft. “Cassandra, what are you talking about?”

“Maker have mercy,” Cassandra muttered to herself. “I’m saying he may have certain…expectations of you that you can’t find yourself able to fulfill. Things you haven’t had to do before, but he may expect you already know.”

"Cassandra."

"Sex." She made another disgusted sound, frustrated with how the Inquisitor was being intentionally obtuse. "I'm talking about sex."

“Cassandra, I know what sex is. I’m not a maiden.” The Inquisitor protested, setting down her arrow and staring the Seeker straight in the eyes.

Cassandra almost slipped off the roof. This did not tally with what she knew of Dalish culture, which was admittedly little. “I thought the Dalish clans frowned on sexual relationships before – do you call it marriage?”

“Yes, we do,” Adair said, trying to hide the edge in her voice. “And some clans more than others. I wasn’t particularly fond of the man my mother wanted me to marry, so she encouraged me to sleep with him in order to build affection.”

“Did it work?”

“No,” the elf sighed. “I wanted even less to do with him after bedding him. I volunteered to be the one sent to the Conclave the next day.”

Cassandra looked back over the field to where Cullen was demonstrating a two-handed sword technique. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” Adair’s gaze followed Cassandra’s. “I told you I wasn’t particularly close to my clan, and being the Keeper’s daughter led to a lot of expectations. None of which I was able to fill. I let that be the final disappointment.”

The Inquisitor turned back. “So, what were you getting at with Cullen’s ‘expectations’? What do you know?”

“Me? Nothing!” Cassandra protested. “Just…overheard his conversations with Varric on the voyage from Kirkwall.”

A cheeky grin spread across the Inquisitor’s face. “Tell me, or else I’ll drag Varric up here and have him tell me, and you know he’ll make it much more lurid than the truth.”

“I hate you, you know that?”

The Inquisitor’s laugh echoed over the yard, grabbing the attention of the mercenaries and soldiers still training in the long shadows. Cullen glanced up for a moment, relishing the sound of her voice, hid his smile, and turned back to the recruits.


End file.
